Cambridge band, The British IBM, released their new album ‘Play The Game’ last month. Recorded at Sickroom Studios with Owen Turner (Magoo), they have deliberately locked away the acoustic guitars and attempted their ‘Monster’ album. Will it succeed?
In adopting this approach, the considered and atmospheric sonics of their last album, ‘Psychopaths Dream in Black and White’, have dissipated on the whole. On ‘I Don’t Miss The 80s’ and ‘Get Away’, those changes can be heard significantly. Both gentle affairs, akin to the criminally underrated solo work of Mark Morriss (The Bluetones). The former, adopting American slide guitars to accompany frontman Adrian Killens hushed vocals. Meanwhile, ‘Get Away’, beefs up the acoustic sounds which, allows Killens to stray between Morriss’ angelic side and the snarl of Gaz Coombes.
Killens guitar playing, at several points, creates images of the rock ‘n’ roll wanderer, a loner amid the chaos. ‘Free The Mind’ and ‘Weekend God’ both tap into Noel Gallagher’s sublime ‘Dying of the Light’ and ‘The Right Stuff’. They threaten to excite but, ultimately, they are solemn tales of being the outsider. As such, Killens allows an aching beauty to isolate himself like Noel or Gene’s Martin Rossiter.
When attempting an electric guitar album, there has to be moments of bombast, right? ‘Darkness Follows’ is that statement of intent. Brooding intensity and, an almost spiteful rhetoric gets in your face. The ‘yeah yeah yeahs’ are resounding and destined to soundtrack a huge medieval battle scene. It is though, on the lyrics where it truly shines. A pro-humanist stance is taken and, delivers exhilarating results.
“How can you believe in something / That doesn’t live or breathe / If you want to believe in something / Why don’t you believe in me”
Whether they continue with these styles remains to be seen. What this album shows though, is they are a force to be reckoned with when they plug in.
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